For the last two days or so, the Spectrum TV app installed on my Roku player has been showing TV stations from Cincinnati, Ohio instead of from Cleveland; the latter lineup is supposed to be what the app gets, since I live 30 miles from the city. The app had been working perfectly prior to this, although it had acted up several months ago with the same symptoms; the first time this happened, I was getting TV stations from Rochester, New York, while the second time and now I was and am, to this day, receiving Cincinnati stations. I contacted Spectrum and spoke with one of their customer service representatives, who told me the problem will be looked into; I am still waiting.

In the meantime, I am watching TV using YouTube TV, which works and gets all my local channels but doesn't have any of the digital subchannels. Is there not an FCC rule stating that any cable TV application (including YouTube TV) must receive every channel, including subchannels, ordinarily receivable in the package to which the customer subscribes? In my area (I have legacy TWC/Spectrum Starter TV service), the package consists of channels 3.1 (NBC), 3.2 (Justice Network), 3.3 (COZI TV), 5.1 (ABC), 5.3 (LAFF), 8.1 (FOX), 8.2 (Antenna TV), 19.1 (CBS), 19.2 (MeTV), 23.1 (ION TV), 25.1 (PBS plus three subchannels), 43.1 (MyTV; soon to be merged with channel 19), and 61.1 (Univision, plus several subchannels). Is there some reason the YouTube TV app doesn't receive the subchannels, or is this just the way the application is set up?

In the meantime, I am watching TV using YouTube TV, which works and gets all my local channels but doesn't have any of the digital subchannels. Is there not an FCC rule stating that any cable TV application (including YouTube TV) must receive every channel, including subchannels, ordinarily receivable in the package to which the customer subscribes? Is there some reason the YouTube TV app doesn't receive the subchannels, or is this just the way the application is set up?

Thank you.

With YouTubeTV, I assume all carriage agreements are negotiated, on a per-stream basis. (i.e. Main Channel and each sub-channel). I do not believe the FCC has any jurisdiction over "Over-the-Top" providers (SlingTV, PS Vue, etc.) You'd have to ask in a YouTube TV forum.

With cable television, where the FCC does have some jurisdiction, Local broadcasters can elect carriage on a system in one of two ways:

1. Must Carry. Must carry, when invoked by the STATION, forces the cable company to carry it's programming, but forgoes all retransmission fees. The station doesn't see a penny from the cable company. This will be invoked by Low Power / low rated stations in a market so that their programming will be seen in more homes, and they can charge more for ad time. Big-boy stations never take this route.

2. Retransmission Consent. An agreement is reached between the cable company and the station to carry one, some, or all of the streams from a station in return for a 'per subscriber' fee. Almost all stations go this route, which is why you'll see the occasional "&%$ is yanking your station!!" blackouts.

Spectrum breaks out the amount of these retransmission fees as part of the "Broadcast TV Surcharge", which is currently $8.85 per month. The station owners wish to collect this fee from cable subscribers for programming they give away for free to those who use an antenna. They (the stations) exploit another FCC Mandate which forces a cable video subscriber to subscribe to the Basic Tier (which includes all the broadcast channels) before any other video programming can be subscribed to. This is why everyone who has video service pays the Broadcast TV Surcharge fee.

I hope I live to see the day when a video cable subscriber can opt out of locals and avoid this charge.

For what it's worth I'm having the same problem as of Saturday with my Spectrum App (on Roku, iPhone and computer - all experiencing the same problem). A few months ago I had the same issue for a couple of days. I can't address the Youtube TV questions but, yes, very frustrating on the Spectrum App. I've contacted support who is "working on it" as well.